5 POINTS / PINEAPPLE BANDITS

CHICKASAW NATION

Through print and digital media (and tooth fairy uniforms) this campaign is designed to promote healthy lifestyle choices for the Chickasaw Nation.

Illustration/Hand Lettering: Allie Rotenberg

Copywriting: Art Novak

Art Direction: Lindsay Hadley

MIRROR CLING

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

POSTER

MATERNITY GIFT POST CARD

DENTAL HYGIENIST "TOOTH FAIRY" UNIFORM

CARDS & INVITES

A collection of some of my favorite cards I have created while working at Hallmark and beyond.

PERSONAL WORK

HALLMARK: FRESH INK

HALLMARK: FRESH INK

HALLMARK: FRESH INK

CASEY WEDDING COMMISSION

KAS DESIGN STUDIO PARTY INVITE

HALLMARK: KID'S GREETINGS

HALLMARK: KID'S GREETINGS

HALLMARK: KID'S GREETINGS

HALLMARK: KID'S GREETINGS

HALLMARK: KID'S GREETINGS

HALLMARK: KID'S GREETINGS

HOLIDAY PROGRAM COMMISSION

FOODIE BOOM

What began as a research study on the Savannah, Georgia restaurant boom quickly escalated to a holistic investigation of the nationwide foodie boom phenomenon. In a world where we are becoming increasingly disconnected from each other as we lean more heavily on technology, food gives us a reason to stay connected with ourselves and with others. Our food choices play a role in how we define ourselves, and we are proud to share the food we love, and the food we make, with others. We have moved beyond perceiving food as fuel. Self-expression through food and our choices represents evolution beyond survival; we have developed into beings of social and cultural need. We need food to feel human.

Team:

Allie Rotenberg

Priyanka Bhansali

Chelsea Lyle

Kimberly Powell

Guided by: Sara Johnson

For more legible detail, please contact me for our process book. It is too large to be hosted on this site.

WAR WALL

This is where our entire research process took place. By putting all of our data, models, primary research, secondary research. and social media exploration up in one place, we were able to create a physical representation of the food boom in Savannah. Keeping everything extremely visual allowed us to identify patterns and reach the key insights that defined our study.

RESEARCH PLAN

The Research Plan was a road map for the rest of our project. It revolved around four main questions: What is the present reality of restaurants in Savannah? How has the restaurant industry in Savannah changed? What are the potential catalysts (past, present and future)? What other industries are affected in what ways? These enabled us to stay organized and focused on what needed to be done through our project, who need to be interviewed, where can we find the data and how we should choose to share the information gained through the process. We listed key players in the industry, and strategized about who we needed to contact. The final plan gave us main questions we revisited and sought to answer throughout the the project.

TREND MATRIX

This model can be used for analysis of past, current and future trends in a specific industry. It allows researchers to look holistically at the technology, culture, people and elements affecting the topic being researched. It can also highlight how aspects influence or are related to each other. The past obsession with fast food or quick TV dinners are fading out while fresh, locally sourced food is becoming higher in demand by consumers and restaurants. Even dieting techniques are shifting to consumers simply eating balanced meals and being more health-conscious of what they are eating. The most startling pattern we noticed in this trend was how quickly technology was developing and influencing the way that we interact with other people. Appliances that were staples in the past will remain, but touchpoints such as iPhone apps that let you order food and even niche snack vending machines are changing the future. 3D printed food has already been invented and robotic waiters are currently being implemented in East Asia. Despite the current “community table” trend that has come so far from the traditional individual dining experiences of the mid-1900’s, we are left to skepticize whether technology will end up hindering or facilitating a social food movement. This is further explored in the Popular Media Scan research model.

RESTAURANT OPENING TIMELINE

This model illustrates how companies or products have evolved over time. This model allows researchers to compare competition and recognize patterns. This innovation evolutions map explores the restaurant openings timeline in Savannah between 2010 and 2014. Each circular band indicates one year and it has been divided by the months. Data was collected from the Savannah City Government website, inquiring with the restaurants, and news or updates through people in the industry. The diagram gives us insights on popular months when most restaurants opened, like November-December (due to it being the vacation season) and July-August (due to the summer vacation). More restaurants had opened in 2010 than 2014, which made us question whether the restaurant industry was in a ‘boom’ or ‘cycle’.

SOCIAL MEDIA SCAN

Realizing that technology was a huge player in the food industry, we researched a variety of platforms to assess how it is affecting the Savannah food community. Apps are a core part of the restaurant industry: from posting pictures of food to discovering new places, ‘Food Porn’ has become a revolution. We are constantly searching through technology for the next thing we want to cook or eat. We gathered key data points on how people share what they eat on social media. A Tumblr blog and Instagram account were key facilitators in this process. These tools are used as communication channels and distributed into four categories: Search/Discovery, which includes spotting places to eat, sharing menus from different restaurants digitally, and keeping track of health and nutrition; Ordering/Reserving, which proves that food delivery is an becoming an important trend (paying for food online, reserving tables for meals and acquiring special offers); Business Sharing, which allows social media to enhance businesses by constant contact, employee engagement, marketing strategies and loyalty programs; and Experience Sharing, which involves writing reviews of restaurants, blogs, microblogs and sharing pictures of food, which is an integral aspect of discovering food trends. These categories have been established from the social media data we found, shown in the model.

Using the high-level insights gathered from our large collection of data, we began creating insight frameworks to explore design solutions for the food boom in Savannah. The description of each framework allowed us to dive into what fundamental concepts support the insight. We then reflected on the description and brainstormed what there might be an opportunity for, to change or enable the insight’s core concept. These opportunities supported “How might we?” statements. An example of this would be “How might we connect people’s ‘food personalities’ in a meaningful way?” (on left). These were used as inspiration for the crazy eight’s exercise, which entailed setting a timer for one minute and sketching design solutions. These design solutions were tailored for the Savannah community and included services or products. Insight frameworks were a great tool to help us understand how we were going to approach presenting insight reports to the client.

2nd International Conference on Food Design Poster

As a summary of our contextual research study, this poster was created and presented in New York in October of 2015.

CONCEPT EXAMPLES

Through our key insights, the team brainstormed around some potential directions that could help support and maintain the food boom in Savannah.

SQUARE CAROUSEL

Last year, I joined Square Carousel Illustration Collective, a group of SCAD alumni that take turns choosing monthly challenges that are interpreted individually.

To view our monthly challenges and the rest of the collective's inspiring work, check out squarecarousel.com

CHALLENGE 70: THE SEA: Lost or Found

There is something about staring into the sea that makes you feel simultaneously lost and found.

CHALLENGE 69: A GOOD CAUSE: The Heidelberg Project

The city of Detroit holds a lot of power over me… not only because it’s where I’m from, but because of what it has been through and where it is now going. The Heidelberg Project has been an inspiration my entire life, now more than ever. Their mission is to inspire people to appreciate and use artistic expression to enrich their lives and to improve the social and economic health of their greater community.

CHALLENGE 68: OVER-WORKING: Muddy Mind

When I’m overworked, I tend to have a hard time separating projects and ideas from one another… they end up weaving their way into each other, whether its concepts or visualization or thinking processes. Sometimes this produces amazing results, but more often than not, the ideas get muddy.

CHALLENGE 67: SILVER AGE: Cosmic Chess Board

It will be surprising to some that I didn’t go with Batman for this round (considering my obsession) but I just couldn’t pass this cover up. Besides it being a really bizarre and crazy idea, there is a metaphor in there for breaking free and determining your own future, which I likey. A lot-y.

CHALLENGE 66: THEY DRAW AND TRAVEL: Wolf Lake Ranch

My family has been going to WLR since I was 5, and I would have to say it is my favorite place in the whole world. You can almost think of it as camp for families…. Wet Hot American Summer-esque, with lots of riding horses through the Manistee National Forest in northern Michigan, lots of drinking around campfires, and skinny dipping in the lake.

CHALLENGE 64: STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS: Follow the Blob

This challenge supported one of my favorite illustration/design play methods: clearing my mind, then painting blobs of color, drawing on top, and seeing where it takes me. More often than not, it becomes a vibrant mass of insanity… and this session did not disappoint!

CHALLENGE 63: CHILDHOOD MEMORY: Rambi

This is a character my brother and I made up when we were kids… a mashup of Rambo and Bambi. I drew him a bunch of times while we were growing up, and it has been an inside joke between us for as long as I can remember. So Josh, this one is for you!

CHALLENGE 62: IDIOMS: Gut Feeling

Sometimes, you just need to trust your instincts. Listen to your gut feelings… as if there is tiny, super honest version of yourself hanging out down there that just wants the best for you.

CHALLENGE 60: TRAVEL: My "Bermuda Triangle"

As much as I love to travel anywhere and everywhere, I often find myself stuck between my hometown in Michigan, where my job is headquartered (and where many of my favorite people live!) in Kansas City, and Savannah where I currently live. It’s tough as a student! Soon I’ll break free and have more time to explore the great beyond.

CHALLENGE 58: COSMIC: Space Twins

Since I’m not a huge astronomy buff, I thought I would take this opportunity to create some siamese space-twins, Dom and Tom, with their cosmic parrot.

CHALLENGE 57: ONE PAGE COMIC: Weekday

As much as I love new challenges and adventures as they come along, I find my day-to-day routine during the week and on the weekend to be comforting and wonderful. Routine is refreshing.

CHALLENGE 57: ONE PAGE COMIC: Weekend

As much as I love new challenges and adventures as they come along, I find my day-to-day routine during the week and on the weekend to be comforting and wonderful. Routine is refreshing.

CHALLENGE 54: HALLOWEEN PRODUCT: Zombie Kill Kit

Be a hero, bite his brains! This product idea is a jumbo, delicious gummy brain packaged in a zombie-head box. Ewww! But awesome.

CHALLENGE 52: FALLIN' IN ___ : Witch's Brew

Its still hot as hell in Savannah. The witches here wouldn’t dare put on their capes and boots yet… too sweaty! This one is drinking a cold brew instead of brewin’ potions and whatever else it is that witches do.

CHALLENGE 51: SPIRIT ANIMAL: Mountain Lion

I relate to a lot of animals, but a big cat seemed the most appropriate. We pounce hard and get what we want, even if it’s risky… just have to be careful not to eat ourselves alive. ;-)

CHALLENGE 49: COLLECTOR'S EDITION: James and the Giant Peach

I couldn’t resist a childhood favorite!

CHALLENGE 48: INVASION: Everyone is Watching, Nobody Cares

For this recent challenge I wanted to illustrate an interesting phenomenon that I have noticed in social media. Sometimes it seems that the more you post, the less people take interest in you as they slowly become numb to your updates. The internet has turned into this ever-watchful ultra-invasive system that may cause you to think your every move is being watched… it is, but when it comes down to it, nobody really cares.

CHALLENGE 47: CURRENCY: My Life in Bills

I’m currently going through some big life changes (moving to Savannah, going back to school) so I decided to represent the three states I’ve lived in (and where I’ve spent most of my money) as their own form of currency. Each contains symbols that represent the state itself and what point I was at in my life and what my interests were while living there. The value of each bill represents the amount of years I lived there. Hope you likey!

CHALLENGE 46: Series of 3: Floral Arrangements

For this challenge, I thought it would be fun to play around with a series of three that interacted with each other in an interesting way. The three images can be shifted around and still feel like one connected illustration. I really wanted this to reflect how creativity breeds more creativity, and how we all inspire each other every day without quite realizing it.

HOMEWORK HOTLINE

BEST OF DAILY DOODLE

In 2013, my new year's resolution was to draw/doodle/paint/whatever something personal every single day. I think it was the best thing I have ever done for myself creatively. This is a collection of some favorites from that year and beyond.

INFOGRAPHICS

Successful visual communication is a vital part of the design process. Presenting information in an engaging way will always be a passion of mine.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL

When challenged to create an infographic that logically explains whether climate change is happening (or is not), I created visual layers of facts that help tell the story. This infographic is actually an animation as well, and can be viewed here.

WHO IS A DESIGN MANAGER?

A very common question, since it is such a versatile and emerging field. This infographic is an animation and can be viewed here.

Illustration/Animation: Allie Rotenberg

Script: Marce Milla and Allie Rotenberg

MONDAY: ROTATING STORYBOARD

We are all creatures of habit... this "day in the life" storyboard rotates in a circle to represent the repetitive (but comforting) nature of how we can sometimes live our lives.

SATURDAY: ROTATING STORYBOARD

We are all creatures of habit... this "day in the life" storyboard rotates in a circle to represent the repetitive (but comforting) nature of how we can sometimes live our lives.

SURFACE DESIGN

Creating repeat patterns and surface design in general has always been a passion of mine. I plan to expand this section of my portfolio in the future.

BEETNIX

Beetnix, sister company to DDY Savannah, is a superfood and juice bar opening in Savannah, Georgia in February of 2016. I was commissioned to create all branding and design styling, including menus, juice labels, apparel, and much more.

BLUR

Our Challenge: To create a social network that will be relevant 10 years in the future.

The Result: Blur, a social network that allows for two-way interaction after death.

Team:

Allie Rotenberg

Juliane Spiegel

Michael Buquet

Priyanka Bhansali

With guidance from: Bruce Claxton

DDY SAVANNAH

DDY (Dancing Dogs Yoga), sister company to Beetnix, is a baptiste yoga studio located in Savannah, Georgia. After working on multiple pieces of promotional material, I was commissioned to refresh the brand look without totally changing the look to avoid confusing current members.